Tottenville teen nets $215 from sale of bracelets and uses it to buy food for shelter animals

Samantha Cirino, of Tottenville, recently sold bracelets that say, "I saved an animal's life," to raise money for the city's Animal Care & Control shelter in Charleston.
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE/JAMIE LEESTATEN ISLAND, NY – TOTTENVILLE — On March 2, Animal Care & Control (AC&C) of New York City began an appeal to city residents for donations of canned dog and cat food to weather a city funding cut.

The nonprofit organization rescues 43,000 animals a year across the five boroughs and operates a Staten Island adoption center in Charleston, which has a capacity of 85 animals and is typically full.

Recent budget cuts by the city Health Department, the AC&C’s primary funder, reduced its annual allocation by $434,000 last year and $317,000 this year. Next year, another $457,000 hit is expected.

The thought of the dogs, cats and other animals suffering at the South Shore facility was too much for one Tottenville teen to bear.

Tottenville resident Samantha Cirino, 16, raised money for the animal shelter in Charleston by selling bracelets at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.
COURTESY CIRINO FAMILYSamantha Cirino, a 16-year-old St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School junior, found out about the struggles faced by the staff at the Charleston AC&C through a friend who volunteers there.

“My friend who works there was telling me about all the animals they have there,” she said. “And they’re not all young. Some are 6-, 7-, 8-years-old. They needed to be taken care of.”

An avid animal lover, Ms. Cirino and her family own four dogs – three Shetland sheepdogs named Teddy Bear, Ginger and Spot, and a German shepherd named Natasha – as well as two rabbits named I-Hop and Baby.

She once had a pet ferret, has looked into purchasing a horse and is aspiring to become a veterinarian.

There was no better person to leap to action.

Ms. Cirino went online just as news was breaking about the funding cuts and ordered dozens of customized, multi-colored silicone bracelets, inscribed with the words, “I saved an animal’s life.”

She moved so quickly that even her mother had no idea what was going on at first.

“She told me about looking into making the bracelets, but I really didn’t understand what she meant at first,” said Mary Jane Cirino. “And it wasn’t until I saw the story in the paper the next day that I realized what she was doing.”

Once the shipment arrived, Ms. Cirino took the bracelets to her family, her friends, her teachers and her classmates, pedaling them for $3 each and preaching about the importance of supporting the shelter.

Within days, a total of 75 bands had been purchased by concerned individuals, some of whom felt compelled enough to throw in a few extra dollars for good measure.

“One person gave me $20 for no reason,” she said.

All told, Ms. Cirino raised approximately $215 after costs and took the cash to Costco with her mother and 11-year-old sister, Samantha.

They bought 10 jumbo bags of Pedigree brand pet food – five for dogs, five for cats – and loaded them into the family car.

“They were really big bags,” said Ms. Cirino. “And when we got to (the Charleston AC&C) the guy was shocked to see how much we had.”

The actions of Ms. Cirino and others – like the parents of Tommy Monahan of Prince’s Bay, the 9-year-old who passed away in 2007 after he tried to save his pet dog and lizard from a fire – served as a precursor, and an example, for others.

Just days after contributions from Ms. Cirino and the Monahan family, Staten Island Borough Hall, ShopRite and ATA Retailer announced donations of food, toys and money to the shelter.

Then on April 12, there was more good news: Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $1 million renewal grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to support the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals.

A coalition of more than 160 animal rescue groups and shelters work with AC&C, and, together, the coalition has increased adoptions by 108 percent over the past nine years.

If adoptions continue to increase at that rate, the hope is that overcrowding will subside at shelters across the city.